Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies

The Straight Scoop on Freemasons, The Illuminati, Skull and Bones, Black Helicopters, The New World Order, and Many, Many More

By: Arthur Goldwag

Narrated by: Fred Sanders

Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Did you know?

• Freemasonry's first American lodge included a young Benjamin Franklin among its members
• The Knights Templar began as impoverished warrior monks then evolved into bankers
• Groom Lake, Dreamland, Homey Airport, Paradise Ranch, The Farm, Watertown Strip, Red Square, “The Box”, are all names for Area 51

An indispensable guide, Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies connects the dots and sets the record straight on a host of greedy gurus and murderous messiahs, crepuscular cabals, and suspicious coincidences. Some topics are familiar - the Kennedy assassinations, the Bilderberg Group, the Illuminati, the People's Temple and Heaven's Gate - and some surprising, like Oulipo, a select group of intellectuals who created wild formulas for creating literary masterpieces, and the Chauffeurs, an 18th-century society of French home invaders, who set fire to their victims' feet.

©2009 Arthur Goldwag (P)2009 Random House

Not bad, needs some polish

The text:

Nicely written with just the right amount of depth across a variety of CCSSs... Goldwag doesn't "go deep" but does provide pop-culture worthy details on many of the topics he covers, for example I now know where the phrase "drinking the kool-aid" comes from.

The audio:

Sanders maintains a pleasant tone and cadence but the presentation is marred by the jarring inclusion of birth and death dates for every.single.person.mentioned!

The bottom line:

A good casual read.

Encyclopedic

Like reading the encyclopedia, the book lacks focus or thesis and is somewhat tedious. But for those looking for a compendium of
nut cases this provides a good entry point. Future editions should consider omitting the birth and death dates of every person mentioned in the book.

Length and Width but minimum Depth

Defined an amazing number of organizations and how many of them interconnect. Not very in-depth on most. The author's bias was often evident especially on "conspiracy theories". It was still interesting and worth listening to.

A great listen

Informative without being dull. All things considered an enjoyable and informative book.

Great info ,Non Biased, excellent

Really good, another of very interesting information, presented with a completely non biased opinion, excellent.

Just A Waste!

If your into conspiracy this is not the book for you. Conspiratorial minded people to quote the author are paranoid children. What a waste of money!

Disappointing

Sounds exotic, but it's not very insightful, or even well-researched. A very superficial look at some cultic groups. No secrets exposed here.

Many interesting fact - BUT

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The author obviously does not believe in conspiracies. As much as he tried to convince the listener of his bias, he is thoroughly biased. He really should have prefaced the book with something like :

Not for listening

Any additional comments?

I think I would like to read this book because I could skip ahead. Instead, it was too slow for listening to someone else to read.

Author needs to do research. ..

This author needs to do research next book he writes. Several points in the book he quotes erroneous facts on verifiable subjects. Also, insulting those who the book seems to be targeted towatds; Probably not the best way to win over readers.

This is a book to avoid!